Seam for sewed articles.



No. 842,184. PATENTED JAN. 29, 190'7.

J. T. DOWDALL.

ASEAM POR SEWED ARTICLES.

APPLIOATION FILED DB0. 21, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 842,184. PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907.

J. T. DOWDALL.

SEAM FOR SEWBD ARTICLES.

APPLIOATION FILED m10. 21, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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PATENT oEEroE.

JAMES T. DOWDALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

' l SEAM FOR SEWED ARTICLES.

T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES T. DowDALL, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York city, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seams for Sewed Articles, of which the following is a description.

This invention relates to seams for sewed articles, and has reference to seams which may be made over the edge or edges of pieces of fabric, or may be made in the body thereof for ornamental and seam purposes.

Among the objects of this invention may be noted the following: To .produce a seam for sewed articles containing a pluralityT of threads which may be concatenated into a lock or chain stitch with overedge ornamental effects, thus producing a selvage or finish for the work; to'produce an edging for work composed of two needle or upper threads and two lower or locking or interlooped threads; to provide a seam which will not only be ornamental, but which will form a wearing ed e for the work; to pro vide a lock-stitch se vage finish for the edges of work, or for joining two edges of abutted or separated work, which will be ornamental, effective for the purposes stated, which will be uniform in appearance on both sides of the work, and which may have included in the overedge portion thereof or in the transverse surface ornamentation one or more threads of different colors.

With the above objects in View my invention consists 'in the features and combinations hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the top surface of the work, the latter consisting of two pieces of fabric superposed and having their edges overstitched in accordance with 'my invention. Fig. 2 is a lerspective view of the work of Fig. l, but s owing the bottom surface of the work. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing another form of my invention. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating the forni of invention shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a top plan view illustrating the application of my seam to the surface of fabric, and also showing the manner in which said seam may form the juncture between two pieces of fabric having their edges abutted. Fig. 6 illustrates the forrn of invention shownl in Fig. 1, but showing the application thereof to a piece of work formed into a tuck or fold,

lSpecification of vLetters Patent.

Application filed December 2l, 1905. Serial No. 292,725.

Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

the seam or edging being applied to the fold or edge of the tuck. Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the top surface of the work, the latter consisting of two pieces of fabric superposed and their edges overstitched, but this form of the invention disclosing a chainstitch instead of a lock-stitch; and Fig. 8 is -a perspective view of the work of Fig. 7 but showing the bottom surface thereof.

Primarily it should be understood that, although my seam is illustrated principally in connection with two pieces of superposed work, it may be applied to a single piece of work for the purpose of giving to the latter a selvage or finish, as well -as an ornamental edge, thus giving the same a greater durability and increasing the wear of its edge, especially if the work be loosel woven or knitted, and hence more or less e astio.

`Referring to the drawings, in all the fig.- ures showing the application of the seam or edging to two pieces of superposed Work the numeral 1 indicates thetop piece of the work, and 2 the bottom piece thereof, while 'in Fig. 5 the work is indicated by the numeral 3, and. the division-line in this figure, which is intended to illustrate the application of the seam, as a juncture between two abutted pieces of work is, indicated by 4, and in Fig. 6 the work is indicated by 7, and the tuck or fold of said work by 8.

In Figs. 1 to 4,7incl'usive, the seam is shown as composed of two independent lilies of lock-stitches joined by one or more ornamental threads, and therein the numeral 9 in dicates the upper or needle thread, which is passed down through the work in loop form, which loop is engaged between the surfaces of the work bya locking or lower thread 10,

which lies on the bottom surface of the work 9 and which is passed in succession through thev loops of said upper thread.- This produces a line of straight stitching 11, extending along the top surface of the Work substantially parallel with the edge thereof, and on the bottom surface of the work a line of straight stitching 12, also substantially parallel with the edge of the work, and both these lines of stitching being laced at any desired distancefrom theedgeo the work. Another line of lockstitches is composed of -the threads 13 and 14, the former being the upper thread and the latter being the lower or locking thread, these stitches being Imade in precisely the manner as are the lines of IOO IIO

stitches 11 and 12; but instead of being made through the work they are, so to speak, made in the air, or at the edge of the work, and close to the same, the interlocking-point 15 in the line of said stitching 16 being ldrawn or placed substantially midway between the bottom and top surfaces of the work. The two sets of stitches thus made and which may be represented by 11 and 1-2 and by 16, respectively, are joined on the top surface of the work by a thread 17 and on the bottom surface of the work by a thread 18. The thread 17 on the top surface of the work eX tends in zigzag manner over ythe said top surface of the work and from the edge thereof and the upper thread 13 thereat to the line of stitching formed by the upper thread 9, the concatenation being produced by passing the said thread 17 under the surface-loops 9EL of said thread 9 and under the surface-loops 13a of, the upper thread 13 in succession. Thus a strandof the thread 17 is held by a surface-loop 9a of the .thread 9 and by a surface-loop 13a of the thread 13, and successive loops of the thread 9 passed down throu h the work between two strands of said t ead 17 at an open end of \the lo'op thereof` and between two strands of said thread 17 at the closed end of a loop thereof alternately, while a loop of thread 13 passes down between two strands at the closed end of a loop of the thread 17 and down between two strands of said thread 17 at the open end of a loop thereof alternately, these successive operations of the loops of threads 9 and 13 in passing between the strands of the thread 17 at the open and closed ends `of loops of said latter thread occurring in alternation with each other-that is to say, when a loop of thread 9 passes between strands of the thread 17 at the open end of a loop thereof, a loop of thread 13 passes between the said two strands of the thread 17 at the closed end of the said loop. On the bottom surface of the work the thread 18 is concatenated with the lower threads 10 and 14 in precisely the man ner as above described in connection with the thread 17 and the threads 9 and 13, and it is to be particularly noted that the two threads 9 and 10 are in precisely the same form on the respective surfaces of the work and that the two threads 17 and 18 are disposed in precisely the same manner on the respective surfaces of the work, and that the two threads 13 and 14 arevlikewise disposed in a similar manner to each other along the edge of the work. In other words, it is an object of my invention to produce a seam which will look exactly the same on both'sides of the work and at the edges thereof, thus making the surface ornamental threads 17 and 18 parallel each other in every particular, and thus producing a'seam not only uniform in appearance, lbut actually uniform in thickness throughout, thus making a substantial sightly ornamental selvage or edging for the work and imparting to the edges of the latter a substantial beading or wearing surface.

With reference to Figs. 3 and 4, it will be noted that the seam is identical with that of Figs. 1 and 2, and the reference characters indicate substantially the same parts and features, the only change therein being in the addition of a thread 19 on the top surface of the work and a thread 2,0 on the bottom surface of the work, which parallel, resd ectively, the threads 17 and 18 and give to the seam a much heavier effect and closer appearance, and thus also adding to the durabillty of the seam as a selvage or edging. Moreover, it is obvious that the two threads 17 and 19 may be of different color and likewise the two threads 18 and 20, thus enhancing the beauty and ornamental effect of the seam and selvage. It will be noted that in all these iigures, 1 to 4, inclusive, the threads of the seam have been shown asloosely drawn or under practically no tension in order that the structure of the seam may be readily understood, and it will be -appreciated that when tension is applied to the several threads in the usual way said threads will be tightly drawn into position and the loops of the thread 17 will be drawn close to the loops of the thread 9, and the latter will be drawn tight upon the strands of the thread 7 and also upon the work. This is also true with respect to the other threads of the seam.

In Fig. 5, Where the stitch is shown as applied to the surface of the work either as an ornamental line of stitching or as forming a juncture between two pieces of abutted work, the two upper threads are shown at 2O and 21, respectively, which pass down through the work in loop'form and are caught and held on the under surface of the work by a locking-thread, in the manner shown in Figs. 1 to 4, and the ornamental top surfacethread is indicated by 22 as being held in sub. stantially the same manner as illustrated in 11o Figs. 1 and 3, but it being understood that the tension on the threads in this figure is much greater than that applied to the threadsr in Figs. 1 to 4. Hence the difference in the effect or appearance of the stitch. The bottom surface of the work of this figure is identical with the top surface shown, and hence an additional view has not been provided to illustrate the s'ame.

Fig. 7 shows the stitch of Figs. 1 and 2 applied to a tuck or fold 8 of the work 7, and illustrates the manner in which said tuck or fold may be ornamented and provided with a stiff wearing edge, selvage, or beading. In order to show the identity of this stitch with that of Figs. 1 and2, the same reference characters are employed to designate similar parts.

In Figs. 7 and 8 my seam is shown as produced in connection with a chain-stitch, and

ICO

Mamav therein the numeral 23 indicates the thread passed through the work from the top surn face thereof in loop form to the bottom surface thereof where, as shown in Fig. 8, said loop 24 is entered and held by a successive loop 25 of the same thread in the usual manner of forming chain-stitches. The saine thing occurs at the edge of the work in conseam of the other figures.

nection with the thread 26, where it will be seen that the loop 27, passed down from the top surface of the Work, is caught by a successive loop 28 of the same thread in the usual manner. thread 29 is concatenated with the two lines of stitching formed by the respective threads 23 and 26 at the top 'surface of the work in a manner similar to that o already described in connection with the seam of the previous` figures of the drawings, and on the bottom surface of the work a thread BOis connected with the loops of the chain-stitches formed by the respective threads 23 and 26 in the manner shown--viz.,. v

the chain-stitch loops of the respective threads 23 and 26 being joined and'held in succession between strands of the thread 30 at the open ends of the loops thereof-this occurring in alternation in precisely the same manner as described in connection with the It will be noted in connection with the seam formed by chainstitches that the single thread formed of interlocked loops makes quite a close beading along the edge of the work and produces thereby a very substantial wearing edge, the same also being true with respect to -the bottorn surface of the work7 where the interlocked-loops of the thread 23 form a line of straight looped stitches. One or more threads, such as 29 and 30, may be applied to the surfaces of the wgrk in connection withthe chain-stitch seam in the same manner as described with reference to a lock-stitch seam.

Among the advantages of this invention may be noted the following:,An artificial selvage is produced on the edge of the Work which will save the latter from wear and will give to the edgeof the work a finished and ornate appearance. The edges of the work,` Whether woven or knitted goods7 can be madesubstantial and prevented from stretching excessively as well as pulling out or raveling. A substantial beading. is produced the edge ofthe work, as wide or as narrow asv isdesired, according to the gage or separation of the lines of surface-stitching, and the stitch described may be composed of as many upper and lower threads and as many crossthreads as is desiredin order to produce the effects shown and described and which may be varied indefinitely to produce surface, edge, overedge, and juncture eti'ects with a plurality or' lines of stitching paralleling the edges ofthe work and disposed in or at the edge, as will be clearly understood from the foregoing dcscri tion.

Having thus escribed my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A seam for sewed articles comprising the work and a plurality of-threads, said seam being characterized by having on the top surface of the worktwo parallel lines of straight stitching joined by a thread zigzagged between the twotlines of stitching, and on the bottom surface of the work two -lines of straight stitching joined by a thread surface of the work a thread zigzagged from;

the edge to a point distant therefrom, said zigzagged threads being extended in parallelism and joined at the'edge of the workby a stitch passingthrough corresponding loops thereof and also being joined at a distance from the edge by a stitchl assing through corresponding loops of said t read.

In testimonywhereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence fof two sub-l scribing witnesses.

' JAMES T. DOWDALL.

Witnesses: Y

JOHN W. -CRULLER,

CHAs. CC. CHAPMAN.

roo 

